Mr. Canelis, if you can call roll, please. >> Miss Carousella. >> Here. >> Mr. Cohen >> here. >> Mr. Corey >> here. >> Mr. Hayward >> here. >> Miss Palamus.
>> Miss Stevenson >> here. Miss Calves >> here. >> Dr. Robinson >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. >> So, Mr. Vaness was excused tonight.
>> Yes. Thank you. >> Liz, can you do the uh flag salute, please? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> All right. I'll read them I'll read the mission statement tonight. Um, the Glenrock School District, founded on principles of education in partnership with a supportive community, provides an exceptional education to all students to cultivate resilient, responsible, and
engaged global citizens. All right. Um, so tonight we don't have a student council rep report. Um, but I did want to do um a presentation on um just well the one I'll say high school rankings, but it's also just rankings
overall in the school district and um the perspective of a board member and then we'll get on to our public comments and our regular agenda um just based on the the flow of of our regular meetings. Um so thank you all for being here today. I know that this is a off um an
off-schedule meeting and many of us are on vacation. So, thank you. All right. All right. So, I think I'll just turn this way as well so I can talk to everyone. I don't have anyone
that has my back. Um, where do I point it? Over there. Okay. Okay. All right. Um, so part of the the reason why I'm doing this meeting is just to talk about like
understanding what school rankings um what they are like who the different players in in in the school ranking market are. Um what are the things that we can do to influence the ranking um whether as uh administrators as um board
of education um as well as parents um as students uh the the as a community um and I wanted to take this um presentation and do it from the perspective of a trustee. I think you're all including you know I'm talking both to the board as well as to the public
that's here today. everyone is so used to us sitting down and then like receiving information, not so much delivering on to you, you know, what we understand about the things that we're voting on, talking on, and things like that. And so I find that this would be useful because I've had many
conversations with people. It's commonly if you're running for board of education, as you know, here we are in an election cycle right this minute. You know, you get asked this question often. Um, I think that as a community, if we're going to resolve some of the problems that, you know, we we've agreed
on that, um, need to be addressed, it would be nice for us to have like a nice, uh, common, you know, shared understanding of of where that baseline is. Okay. Um, and so, and then finally, you know, like what are some places where we can
go next? So, this again is going to be from a perspective of a board member. You're not going to see me presenting to you lots of data um specific to NJSLA scores. I might have some of that for perspective in there, but it's not my goal isn't to be an administrator or an educator because I'm not I do
anesthesia. I don't I'm not teacher. So, the next step of this is really going to be from um from like aside from the conversations that are are you're going to hear here like that we're going to have uh some open conversations here about um you know what it is that that I
found on on this journey. Um I'm probably going to have some questions that are asked of me that I might not know the answer to and you all might come up and ask questions at the podium and I might be able to answer them and I might not have answered to them. So this is going to be an ongoing um you know
discussion. Additionally um administration is going to be able to do a presentation from their perspective. Uh and in all honesty um you know Mr. Vaness asked if he could do the presentation first and I said no I really want to do this I want to I want to start here first and have make sure
that we have a great you know foundation before we actually dive back into the data and then find out you know more. Uh so I just told you why I'm presenting first. Um you know again to create a baseline of understanding to clarify how
rankings are determined. I also want to talk about um showing how Glenrock has per performed um historically and to identify um ways to strengthen our outcomes and also make sure that we're focusing on authentic student success um not solely just
numbers. Um it's important to recognize that rankings do shape public perception. Um, you know, there's many ways that I'm going to show you here how our public perception actually does feed directly into the ranking structure. Um, but you know, this is also whereas from
the education um or the educator standpoint, you know, we don't always want to just put pressure on our teachers to um, you know, like teach to the teach only to the test or you know, to focus solely on numbers as a factor of student growth. However, the
community's ask is also that, you know, we are concerned about the direction and the growth of our students. We're concerned about um making sure that they're on par with um their peers. We're concerned about how it affects whether people want to come here and live here and whether it's the reason,
you know, the same town that we all, you know, want it to be. We're concerned about that and we recognize that and I think that this is just, you know, covering some of the ask that you have asked of us. Um so just to talk about the ranking landscape um there's there's a variety
of of ranking um outlets. You have US News and World Report which people are you know commonly aware of. Uh they started ranking high schools in 2007. Um they do an annual ranking and its focus is mainly on academic performance and um some equity. It is still active. Um next
is uh nish.com. They started ranking high schools in 2013 and they are also annual um they have a a mixed data pool of of for their focus and I I'll dive into it a little bit more as we go. Um and they do um survey reviews um so I'll
also dive into that. Um there is also a uh department of education school scoring system where they do summit um summitive scores and it's based on your um you know the park or NJSLA uh proficiency scores and graduation rate and chronic absenteeis absenteeism and
they come up with like a a one to 100 scoring system um and they're still active. New Jersey monthly was bianial um until 2018. 2018 was the last time that they did um uh scoring um and they
used the department of education data with the growth proficiency scores and also uh some readiness. They're discontinued. School digger is another one that I did find. Um they do annual data and it's only based on uh test scores. Um it is still active. However,
most um news sources don't really use it. And then Newsweek, Newsweek was doing it until um 2016. It's a national list. Um, it is currently discontinued. And just so we have a baseline for the
the park or the NJSLA scores, you're you may be used to us um talking about our NJSLA scores annually because um it's part of the testing for our kids. Um so previous um prior to n 2019, they they were called park scores or partnership
for assessment of readiness for college careers. Um and it was just the state online testing and it it it measures you know like the proficiency um and you're looking for like fours and fives um a prof proficient level or above. A four and five met or exceeded expectations.
Levels one through three did not meet or partially met expectations. So what you'll see here is a media influence map. Um so in the center you'll have your original ranking sources. You'll have your uh US News and World Report, your niche, um your
department of education sum summitive um uh evaluation. You'll have your NJ monthly, your school digger, and then you can see um Newsweek. Um and then to the left, you'll have like the secondary interpreters, which are um again the Department of Education. um while
they're in the center because they do um have some sort of like a scoring ranking system that they um do uh they're also a primary source of data meaning that the NJ NJSLA scores that you um get are then sourced and um kept at the state level
and then that information then gets pushed out to a variety of places such as US News and World Report, niche.com um you know like uh any of the uh web um the digital sources like your Star Ledgers, your North Jersey, your Bergen
Record, your patch. Um all of that information they can take from the um Department of Education website or all of that information also can go to your original rankings um sources. College Board also feeds information. They have um indep independent data firms. Um RTI
International is the one that US News um and World Report uses for their methodology. And then you also have educational an analysts who are paid um specifically to you know interpret this data. This just shows kind of like the path from data to headlines. Again you have
your original ranking um sources. Your data um you know gets fed into those original ranking sources. And then you'll see that there's an a doubleheaded arrow there with um the media amplifiers and the original ranking because specifically niche.com
um you know like perception does actually feed into your rank in niche.com. So if the community tends to um put in information because they do seek surveys. Um so if your surveys are positive then it actually helps your
ranking. If your surveys are negative, it um negatively affects your ranking. And so that it can be birectional and it can create either a negative feedback loop or a positive feedback loop. Um so I was trying to find some like idea of like how these ranking um
structures differ. So US News and World Report is um one that's more um like well-known. Um and so you have your state proficiency that covers about 20% of it. Um your student growth um your student growth scores cover about another 20%. Um equity and underserved
performance is about 10%. Your college readiness which is your you know AP um I uh international balorate um scoring that's 40% um graduation and attendance um like chronic absenteeism is about 10%. And then you can see New Jersey
Monthly and I have some like unknown percentage there and things like that because they there were different articles and they split it up into different ways and it didn't really fully give their their um methodology but it also ended in 2018. So it's hard for me to find out historically what
they used um and how they determined their scores um when you know the their methodology isn't applicable anymore. um niche uh has, you know, like low, moderate, high, they're not fully quantitative. Um and so, you know, they
rank it by saying that there's um there student and parent surveys and they also have a perception of how parents and students feel served and that creates like a different feedback loop. They specifically rank um private high schools using composite SAT scores,
total um top college scores, college enrollment, culture and diversity grade, your parent um student surveys on overall experience um and a student teacher um ratio and they rank that you know anywhere from 10 to 30%. So I I took as much data as I could find
um looking either in archives of um of different websites. I looked at NISH, I looked at uh NJ monthly, I looked at the school digger, I used uh US News um I I looked the national rank is referring to what US News and World Report had um and
then niche.com and I created a matrix from 2016 to 2025. Um, and you'll see just a variety of numbers. Um, there's there's there's a lot here. Um, and I'm going to break down some of the information over the next several slides
as well as tell like kind of talk about it now. Um, so when you look at um the data, you'll see that some have HS next to them and some don't. And it's because some of the data that I was able to find, and again, this is in if I could
get primary source verification, that was preferable. So, if I was able to go to nich.com and just say what are you know what is the current ranking then you know I'm happy to get that. Um all of these sources don't don't really list all of their historical data. So they don't go say oh you know in 2018 you
were ranked this and then now 20 you know 2025 you're ranked this because I think they try to force you to pay for that data. So I was able to use um archive.org and to look at certain websites and then to go back you know multiple years to see that um you know what it was. I was able to use a variety
of like patch articles that pointed to the numbers. Um there were times though that the various numbers that I looked at um it might have been say reported as a 42 on patch and then I look at you know Bergen record and they said it's 43 and since I don't have the primary
source to verify it you know there may be a discrepancy. So when you all you know go back and go through and look at these um just kind of keep that in mind that it was very very very difficult to um you know find all of this and and and there are going to be some gaps um because for instance in 2018 um I
couldn't find a um national rank um at all. So school digger you can see there um the high school they ranked high school as well as the overall district. Sometimes I was able to find that they rank the high school, but then um other times
I've been able to find that they rank the overall district as well. And then some articles that list the ranking don't actually state whether they're rank talking about the high school ranking or if they're talking about the school district overall. Um there's discrepancies there in terms of the data. Um so school digger you have
anything from, you know, 15 all the way to um 42. um New Jersey Monthly that ended in 2018, but in 2016 it said number um 25 for the school district, number 10 for the um for the high
school, and then in 2018 it was number two, which honestly was a very controversial year for them and and then they went out of business after that. Um US News and and World Report um has us ranked anywhere from uh 13 all the way
up to um 2024 66. Our national rank um has been anywhere from an unknown number in 2018 or 137 all the way up to 1359. Um nish.com has ranked us from anywhere
from 19 to um 53 as a a school district and I see 97 as a high school but I don't have like high school data on every single year. Um so you know our strongest year according to just the numbers would have been um you know 20 2018 when New Jersey monthly ranked us
number two in the state. Um and the the one thing that is also important to note is that when I put um an asterisk there by year reported uh year reported um is important because the the scores are from like maybe two years prior. So if
we're looking at um for instance like 20 like this year 2025 are based on 2022 and 2023 data. So 2016 would have been based on um 20 uh you know 13 and 2014 data. Um so you can go like back and
know that when you're looking at something you know like you have to just remember that it's it's it's kind of like in motion. You if you're making changes now they're not going to be reflected for about um two years. Also, NJSLA assessments from 2019 to
2020 um and 2020 and 21 because of the COVID years u were cancelled. And so there's also these things called student growth percentiles or median student growth percentiles that were not calculated for the 2019 to 2020, 2020 to 21 and 21 to 22 years. Um and that did
have an effect on you know the ranking structure for those years. So generally speaking over all of those different ranking structures um you know what are some of the things that drive like the six primary things that drive uh you know your your rankings across
all the systems. So you're going to have academic proficiency just making sure that you have strong NJPPA or NJSLA scores um your ELA and math um your ELA and math proficiency test scores um student growth which is year-over-year progress um by cohorts. Um, so the
student growth percentile or SGP is is is an important concept and it's something honestly I didn't fully understand until I I did this presentation. So um, when they're looking at student growth, it's a number that you can have from like one to 100. And so typically I'm like, well then I
want 100. Well, it's hard for you to actually achieve 100 because it's it's represented. So for instance, if you have uh let's just say an NJ SLA score of 650 at um on in the fourth grade in
the fifth grade you're you know 675 in the um sixth grade you're 550 you know and then they take it as a cohort. So they look at in fourth grade you have a group of people that scored just like you in fourth grade. And in
fifth grade you have a group of people that scored just like you in fifth grade. And then sixth grade they this the student growth proficiency score would be based on how you did compared to those kids that were in fourth and fifth grade that scored just like you. Did you do better than them or did you do worse than them? So if you're at 50
that means that you are actually tracking. You're doing as well as your peers are doing. If you're in a school district that's already performing at the like a very high level, if we're already getting scores that are way above the um state level, if getting a
um a 50 or so or like even a little above that just means that you're on par with other test takers who are doing just as well as you are doing in your cohort. So that I think was important to note because I was when I look at the numbers I'm like, well, is 50 good? Is
60 good? Is 70 good? Shouldn't we be at 100? But if you're already scoring really well and much better than the average to be able to get a 100 is not really um it's not really achievable um because you're already closer to the top
of of performance. Um so that that is just something for us to note. It's not something that because it's also going to be different based on the grade. There might be areas of opportunity at, you know, for instance, sixth grade versus ninth grade and or at the high school level or maybe it's, you know,
10th grade or, you know, there's there there's the overall student growth, you know, as a as a as a school system, a school district or maybe just the high school or middle school, but then there's also individual um grade stuff. And I won't present on that. That's not my um, you know, role here, but I from a
concept, I thought that it was important for me to share that. Um, so the equity and subgroup performance, um, I'll speak a little bit more about that later, but you want to be able to close achievement gaps. Um, there are different subgroups. Um, you know, uh, uh, uh, Latino groups,
um, black, African-American, um, uh, students with disabilities, as well as, um, uh, students that, um, receive free or reduced lunch. Um, those are all subgroups. um college readiness, your AP, um your graduation and attendance
rates, your absenteeism. Um they reward low absenteeism, school climate and engagement, some element of a survey, especially with the niche.com. So, Glenmach strengths, um we have a top tier graduation rate, you know, greater
than 95% um high AP participation and pass rates. We have a strong overall proficiency in the ELA and math. Um, highly qualified staff and stable, you know, leadership. We have robust community and and parent engagement. Um, but then when it comes down to like
where the rankings might penalize us, uh, subgroup performance gaps. Um, so the rankings, you know, not only look at how well our students perform overall because they're also looking at how evenly that success is shared across every group of of students. Um and so
you know even just the small differences between those sub uh student groups can can count as gaps. um for like an example that I um read about was like if you are performing at like 80% on average and then any one of those
student groups that I told you about whether it's um black, African-American, um Hispanic uh Latino um uh or um Pacific yeah Pacific Islander, Hawaiian um and also uh students that are
receiving free or reduced lunch and um students with uh disabilities. If any of those groups are, let's say, you know, let's say that any one of those people are receiving 65%. Then you have a gap between, you know, what they're um what
that group is getting and then what your um overall student population is getting. And that gap is uh going to um be considered a negative against you. If you had, let's say, 65% for that subgroup and then the rest of it was
75%, even though your highest achievement is lower, they actually reward it, which is odd. Um, so limited AP diversity. um they they reward uh breadth, not depth, meaning that they reward um lots of AP
classes, like more of a diverse AP offering as opposed to just the number of students that you have in AP um education. So, you know, that's also going to be a limitation of the district because if you have a bigger school district, you're able to offer more classes because you just have more
people that are going to be able to fill the classrooms. So that is going to be a challenge um you know to improve but it doesn't mean that we can't evaluate um making other classes that we currently offer AP classes um and and make sure that you know there are students that would want to take it. Um the growth
ceiling effect I spoke about that a little bit um it's just the already high proficiency limit. You're you're not able to gain as much um uh because if you're already somewhat in the in the top of the group. Um we had a slight absenteeism increase uh postcoid in
2021. It was 10.7% and it dropped back down um in 2022 to 2.9% where it it currently is um 2023 to 2024 which is the most recent data that we have it's 2.9%. And then the survey um for niche
may lag perception wise and I'll speak about that. So I'll speak about it now. uh niche niche. Um it's just it's a common thing that people use not only just for our schools but just for the community. They want to know, you know, if you're moving, you
know, which community do you want to move into? Um where do you want to stay away from? Um and the for the um schools for high school specifically, they have a variety of things. Over the next two pages um or two um slides, you'll see their methodology and the weight that
they place. So academic grades, they weigh it at 50%. So you have um state assessment proficiency, your college enrollment data, and your survey responses on academics from students and parents. Um your teachers grade um weighs 15% and that includes um teacher
salary, absenteeism, uh state test results, and survey responses on teachers from students and parents. Culture and diversity is a factor and it um is 12.5% and it's based on the racial and economic diversity as well as um uh survey responses on school culture and
diversity from students and parents. Um it also has uh the parent and student surveys on their overall experience with the school and that's 12 and a half% and you can um get a a scale of one to five. Uh and it's just a survey of of responses um based on what your overall
experience um is as a student or a parent in the district. Um the resources and facilities grade is about 5% and is based on the exp um expenses per student. The staffing and the survey responses on facilities um from the students and parents. The club activities grade is two and a half% the
sports grade two and a half% again based on the surveys um related to the student um experience and the parent experience on clubs, activities, athletic facilities, athletic programs, etc. Um, so you might not be able to fully
see this from where you are. Um, but this I just pulled this up on November 1st. So your niche ranking on the the high school because on niche there's Glenrock High School. There's all four of our U middle schools. There's also the elementary schools ranked
separately. And then there's a Glenrock Board of Education score which is really just the overall school district score. But the scores, if you look, they don't actually the things don't match even though there is an overlap. Um, so here you're looking at uh the Glenrock High School. Um, we have an overall niche
grade of A. Um, our academics are A minus. Teachers are A. Um, sports, A minus. College prep is A minus. For diversity, we get a B. For clubs and activities, um, we get C++. Resources and facilities, we get a C plus. And for
food, we get a C. Um this also you won't be able to see from here but um I pulled up some of the the ranking factors um and the the different profiles. Um so for clubs and activities um it's saying 81% of
students and and parents agree that um there are plenty of clubs. Um it 50% believe that students and um students and parents have believe that their clubs and organizations are um funded well etc. um where you'll be able to see
um and this presentation will be available for you so you can actually see it um more closely. Uh are some of the um comments or the actual like when you look at each of these things and you populate them and you open them up, you're able to see what the survey responses were that were underneath it.
And many of them are either, you know, saying that they feel like they had a good response here, that they love their teachers, love their academics. Some are saying that they um do not love their teachers or do not love their academics or do not love administration or do not like the community. Um it's a variety of
things. Um some talk about how they feel like the ranking structure has gone down. And you know I think for all of us it's it's interesting because it would feel like it's safe to just say like hey how does how do you feel about your school or how do you feel about your school district and then you respond
this is how I feel. Um, it's just also of note that niche rankings are also heavily based on what you say about your school and what you say about your school district or your teaching staff or your sports and things like that. So,
um, our food for instance is it's just interesting because we spend a good amount of money for the food and we have the ability to cater and tailor it to a lot of things that some other school districts don't have, but yet we're a C++ versus not. So, it'd be interesting to, you know, hear and understand why
the surveys for certain things are high or low depending on um, you know, who wrote it or when they wrote it. Also of note, when I pulled this data, there were only 11 responses. So, our our three point whatever score is only based on 11 responses. Um, and maybe only one
of them from this year. And so, that really does impact the actual score. And you'll notice from year to year the variability because I took a look at what Ridgewood look like and they're like number 13 in the in in the state. And I was just interesting to see that when it comes down to academ academics,
teachers, um you know, just some of our core things that they actually ranked the same. They both had A's, but then when it came to clubs and sports or you know like other things, they had um different scores and their ranking um their their survey responses were a bit different. And they also had more survey
responses um to help with the data. So that's just something to note. Um this these are just like additional um you know comments and surveys and you'll see we have uh 11 reviews and there are six of them are five star,
three of them are four star, one of them is two star and one of them is one star and that is what our overall ranking um is also based on. Um so the survey is uh collected from the K to uh for K to2 by the company is
to provide the qualitative data they're one to five scale they use like this beesian method where they're calculating their scores um and it starts off but all schools um start off with like a a 3.9 or something and then as your um scores uh as your your score will
improve as you get more surveys and you get more data input into them to get you closer to um your true score. But the fewer scores that you have, the fewer reviews that you have, um, the less that your your score is really going to be just pulled closer to what the average
is, which is like the 3.9. Um, you can do surveys through direct request. you could just go go on there, sign up, and create an account and um choose Glenrock High School, middle school, your elementary school, your school district, and opt in to fill out a survey and talk
about, you know, the things that you love or um don't like in in Glenrock. Um but they also uh do this to kind of collect more data for their um program. Um, so they have a link to a thousand
dollar school survey um, sweep stakes that they um, recommend that the school districts like can put out and you can send it out to get um, uh, to encourage participation by saying that you're going to be involved in this um, scoring. Some some school districts opt out of doing it because it is just
collecting more data for another program. But um if it is important to the community and it's important you know to have these numbers like we could turn around and um claim the accounts for the different schools we could claim. Right now they're not claimed so we're not controlling um you know some
of the inputs and the data that is is there in in niche.com. Um so that I'll talk about that at the end. Um, New Jersey Monthly's methodology, they're continued, discontinued, but they had a variety. They used Leaflin um Associates, which
is defunct. Um, they they no longer in business after the 2018 ranking. Um, they use some version of the Department of Education school performance reports as well as um you know, different waitings and things like that. Uh, and Glenn Rock was ranked number two in in the state over um all of these other
schools. Um, one other thing, you know, to point out with, well, I'll talk about it next. So, 2019, US News and World Report, they changed their formula. Um, so I can go back and and show you kind of like the
difference between what happened before 2019 when we were, I don't know, 13 or something like that in the state. Um, and then after 2019 when we were about um, 40. Um, they changed their formula in a in a major way. They changed it
based on uh subgroup reporting. Um they they changed it based on um the test proficiency averages. They changed it based on the college curriculum breath. Um even to the point where they had
27 in in 2019 and before before 2019, you were ranked based on 2,700 schools. They only ranked 2,700 schools. And then after 2019, that number of schools that they ranked you against were 17,000 schools. Um so that number just because the denominator changed is also
something significant. So that moved a lot of um people around at like the state level. The the schools that were at the very very very top um nationally um still kind of stayed somewhere around the top. Um but there was a lot of shakeup uh depending on on the school
makeup that made the difference there in 2019. Um so again um with the subgroups I just wanted to mention because sometimes when we report this out it's important for you to know that our subgroups if we have less than 20 students in any specific subgroup. So if
we have less than 20 if we're reporting on like fifth grade math scores and we have less than 20 black students we're not going to report on that subgroup because to protect um uh student privacy. And so if we don't report on that subgroup, then it doesn't actually
go into the state's website and it then therefore it also then doesn't go to US News and and World Report to determine their rankings. Um, however, if you do have, let's say, 22 students, if you're coming from a school district that has that small of a subgroup, it does, you
know, statistically, um, impact you that much more because you have a smaller group of students compared to a larger school which has a larger pool, you know, to help spread that out, um, and put less pressure on those students to perform. Um so just kind of like ranking
algorithms and how they will keep evolving in 2021 and beyond. Um the inside higher ed they just said that the US News uh continued refining indicators for underserved students and reweighted um college college readiness slightly.
And so Glenrock's college readiness helped stabilize its rank despite heavier um equity emphasis. Um NJSBA has warned that you know they don't want us to specifically chase rankings. Um but they want to focus on metrics that can be controlled like growth, subgroup
support, transparency. Um you know focusing on those the growth um of our kids is is important. And so what these changes um you know mean for Glenrock, our strength again is in our AP participation, our graduation. Our proficiency remains um you know we
remain stable and high performers. Um the rank sensitivity now, you know, will depend much more on closing equity gaps between um those subgroups that we talked about. And then demonstrating year yearly student growth and making sure that not only just as a school
district that we're moving and making sure that our our kids are on track with other kids and even exceeding the expectations by far of other kids because that's what we want. Um but we also want to make sure that we're doing that and a you know a grade level like
Is sixth grade performing? Is seventh grade performing the way that we want them to as eighth grade? Or do we have like dips in certain grade levels that we really need to see what's going on at this grade level and what's changing there, you know, um, you know, so that we can make sure that we're doing what
we need to be doing for our kids. Um, to maintain uh top tier placement under these evolving form formulas, we can consider again expanding subgroup supports to raise equity index scores. Um we can diversify AP offerings to increase the curriculum breadth. Um we
can communicate uh context like from a board perspective or administration perspective when rankings fluctuate. And then as a community we can also decide do we want to opt into participating in the niche surveys so that um we can actually get the the data you know
updated there. Um because even when I looked today the uh math proficiency scores and reading proficiency scores are not accurate to what our actual proficiency scores are by far like something was like 40 49% when we're I
think 80 or 85. So it's not um it's not accurate. Um so potential immediate um a potential immediate action plan anything that we uh determine you know like one we really need to understand
the point of view of our administrators we need to understand the teachers we need to have another presentation from them addressing some of these issues that um that I've brought up and you know making sure that what we're looking at you know we're able to put the Glenrock lens fully on it. I don't have
all of the um the access to like all of our scores and data and things like that. And actually at the next meeting we're going to have a presentation on the NJSLA um scores and and and I've already seen them because I looked them up in the student performance reports and they look pretty good. So I look
forward to that presentation and then to see you know like what does that mean you know in terms of a track and trajectory and where we're going. Um so focus areas here AP access um expanding participation or supports if
we do that it could raise uh college readiness scores looking at um subgroup equity. Again, I I spoke about like um English um language learners or um uh Hispanic Latino um a black uh Pacific
Islander group um students with disabilities and um anybody that is uh eligible to receive um free or reduced lunch. um all of those subgroups. You know, while we might not be able to see um the published data because some of
those subgroups may be small, we just really want to make sure that we are on track and working towards um narrowing that gap and you know communicating that out and and also receiving information when you feel like your one of your children fits into one of those
subgroups and is not receiving um services that help to uh you know raise that underserved index. um public data literacy just kind of the goal again of this presentation was just to kind of talk about just the you know you know 30,000 foot view of this information and
for us to now move forward having like a general um you know even understanding of what it is that we're seeing and hopefully I'll have this presentation you know available to you and then you'll be able to take a look at it and then you know ask questions back and you know I'm happy to answer them or address
them at you know future meetings um And again, perception, you know, highlighting the student um the district success, improving uh community engagement. Um and if if we're deciding that the nurse scores are important to us as a community, then you know, actively going in there to um talk about
the things that you find that are positive about your children's education and then also communicating to us the things that you, you know, want to, you know, improve on. long-term strategic goals, again, enhancing curriculum breath, um career
pathways, including vocational pathways. While that isn't um you know, like just a a metric for um the ranking structure, it is just something that is just a good idea for our kids just to make sure that they know that they have all options available to them. Um even the
possibility of launching like a data dashboard where we're able to talk about you know this data transparently and you're able to see you know annually like you can see like this is where we are as a school district and this is where we're progressing and oh NJSLA
scores are anticipated to come out at this time or that time and you know we can go from there. Um we can strengthen um articulation in math and literacy although you know let's take a look at our scores um when they get reported on next week. um differentiated
instruction. Um we can talk about that another time. And then leveraging the climate um surveys. Thanks. Um, so also like what are what are some realistic expectations just for like for instance the NJ monthly the difference between a 10 and a 40 and in
and you know like your your top schools would be potentially like two points out of a 100 points. Like so when you're looking at some of the top schools and you're at the top of that uh index, the number of points that you're using to just basically change and move the
needle a little bit um is is it's significant. Um focusing on sustained excellence and making sure that you know like we're you know pushing forward the things that are winning and also looking at the things that are not working. Um also just so it's so for US News and
World Report um especially before 2019 when I said that they went from um using 2700 schools which was public schools to 17,000 schools that meant they included magnet schools they included um private schools and charter schools and all of
these other school types that were not previously included. So back when we were you know let's say 2017 2018 um that data didn't include private schools charter schools magnet schools. So in certain ways like that's that's the kind
of data that has us for instance in number two position over bergen countymies because they did not include schools that had specialized admission. So in uh our current US News and World ranking um the top 10 high schools are
all magnet schools or specialized high schools that admit only high achieving students. Um Milbour High School which was the first public um school that was on the list was actually number 12. So if you look at the top 20 schools in New Jersey um only four of the top 20 are
public schools. and some of the ones that are on there tend to be um there's a couple that are regional um schools as well. Uh so it is it is a snapshot in time and it's something that we want to work with the community to focus on like where are the areas and opportunities
for um you know success and uh to consider like maybe putting some sort of like annual presentation together where we can address like where we are with the rankings where we can address um you know like the feedback and and and also see you know if we're on the trajectory
to doing what we need to be doing as a school district and as a community. Um uh I I put on there issuing clear messaging when rankings are released. Um an example is you know I know that uh some of our elementary schools just uh
you know were released with the rankings and so that came up on social media but I think that we can you know figure out a more formal you know continuous way that you can expect to receive notification and perhaps even get an annual presentation every fall about this kind of information just so that
you're aware and that you can communicate with us. Um, so just some Q&A and um, discussion. I would say, you know, I I'll try I don't know, we're probably not going to be able to post anything on the website because we're out this week. Um, but
next week we'll be able to post the presentation up there. And then the question that I would like to know from the community is that like what questions um, or priorities do you want us to consider as we are continue aligning, you know, with our academic improvement um, and our district vision.
So just take a look, you know, give us feedback. Um I think we're we're all interested in hearing what you have to say. Um and then for the board I I think you know like you'll also have opportunity to now you know since I have given the presentation you know go through the data and then ask the
additional questions and then when we get our NJSLA presentation next week then you'll be able to marry some of that information that we learned today into that conversation for NJ NJSLA and how that might actually um affect our future rankings because again everything
is almost like two years behind Um and so and then for the administration um which I'll ask for something subsequent of presentation um where are there areas of opportunity that we can improve on what is possible with the resources and the student population that we have for
instance I mentioned the whole idea of like increasing our AP uh classes like if we decided to offer more classes to increase the amount of offerings and variety for our students is that really feasible for our school district or is it that we're just such a small school
district that um you know we can't really do that um and that is it and I have more sources than that and they're all in the notes um section and you'll be able to
see those presentations. So thank you and what questions do you all have? Mhm. >> So, so I'm glad that we're starting to talk about the ranking. I think for for years we we just say everything is great
and we closed our eyes and finally we're speaking about that. I think it's just uh concerning to me to do this conversation with no administration in the room to respond and actually act upon that. Um I we have to look deep into the data and really understand
what's going on and what's the element. So, I'm just like randomly open the new uh Newsweek results and I see that the Glenrock High School math proficiency is 70% while Rididgewood is 100% and Fairon is 80%. There's no reason in the world
that uh Glenrock will be at 70 when two neighboring towns are at 180. So, we need to look at the deep dive into the data and really understand what's driving it and what are the issues. Uh and I think everybody will agree that the first priority should be in math.
Anybody else? Yes. >> Just say thanks for that was a ton of data you just spit at us and I think part of the challenge we have up here is exactly what Mr. Cohen just did. A lot of people just open up and take a look at data and with this really starts to
in statistics they call it normalizing the data right so we can we can take a look at different data streams. We have to really understand what they mean side by side and compare them to each other to understand what that data means and what it's telling us and not just say well this number two rank if there's magnet schools that are blocking every
public school out of the state there's a reason why Glenrock's never going to be in in that basket. So thanks for starting the conversation. Um, thanks for putting some of those um putting some some of those highlights on what it is that we're actually looking at because it's very hard as a trustee
walking around on the weekends to hear these responses. And my favorite question is where did you hear that? And it's not a question of doubt. It's just well what what's your source? How like I'd love to take that information back and think about it, but where did you hear it from? That's just vetting your
sources. So this is the beginning. Great stuff. >> And I'll say that I chose to do the presentation today. I mean, again, we all know why why we're here today. Um, and happy to um move on to that agenda as well. Um, but doing it here today as
part of a there's some changes that are are being made and not waiting until well one next week's agenda. We have three presentations that are going to take up a chunk of time. And I think that this was quite a lengthy proceed um presentation that needed its own moment
and that our only next two meetings are you know right before Thanksgiving and Christmas and you know what I'm hearing is a sense of urgency from the community. So I chose to do it today and you know spent the whole weekend um preparing for it. So yes,
>> I just want to echo um Dan, thank you. It was so much information it had to take a lot of time. Um I don't think we've never not talked about it. I remember I think I mentioned it earlier too. Um you had presented on this a few years ago to the board when there were some questions in the community. So it's on ongoing discussion. Um the two slides
I really um that stood out to me was where rankings penalize us. I thought that was really great information that we can definitely build from. And I found it very interesting that New New York um New Jersey, I'm sorry, monthly had us number two and then the next year they were done and I feel like that's
the number we hear so often. Glenn Rock was number two. Glenn Rock was number two. What happened? Um but that one no longer even exists. So it's just good to have that information out there. Thank you for diving in. It's so much data and I think it's all helpful. >> Thank you. And I think that I mean which
and if you go down into into the data later you'll see that the way that they determine their rankings at that time and the the way that they weighed that information is not even the way that it's even currently weighed and understood um at this time. So
all right. Oh yeah. Go ahead. just wanted to echo that it was relevant and helpful and I definitely look forward to having more discussions about this after the community has had a chance to digest the information as well as hearing more from administration and teachers. But
thank you very much. >> All right. All right. So, it's 8:12 and we are opening our first of two public comment sessions. Um, please um walk to the >> Oh, yes. Okay. Yes, you're right. Thank
you. Pause on the A12. And so, um I was actually thinking about Oh, it'll only take like two seconds. Um just to kind of give preface to the reason why we're all here today. Um you know I I I I am
happy to always you know give you know speeches off the cuff and today is not a day to do that. It's definitely a day to read my paper um that I've prepared um thoughtfully to make sure that I you know cover all bases. So just bear with me. Um tonight the board is voting on
two resolutions related to district leadership. The first approves a settlement and release agreement and with uh Dr. Brett Charleston which results in him resigning from employment effective August 31st, 2026 and him releasing the board from any potential
claims. The second related resolution approves his paid leave of absence effective immediately through his resignation date for personal reasons. Together, these resolutions reflect a mutual decision to conclude Dr. Charleston's employment a little less than one year earlier than his existing
employment contract would have ended. To be clear, there is no lumpsum payment being offered by the board as part of this agreement. Moreover, the agreement represents a mutually negotiated separation reached after months of careful review, consultation with council, and serious deliberation by
this board. Our goal throughout has been to protect the district's financial interests, ensure stability, and move forward responsibly. The board has weighed every concern carefully in reaching this uh resolution. While I cannot discuss personnel details, I can
share that the settlement provides the district with clarity and closure. It allows us to plan for the future and maintains continuity for our students and staff. While the law has required us to manage this process in silence, we are grateful to have reached an outcome that this full board can support. Our
next steps will be to appoint an acting superintendent at our November 10th meeting, ensuring a smooth transition and continued focus on student success. Moreover, our board's goal is to have a permanent superintendent appointed prior to the start of the next school year in the September of or in September of the
next school year and we will be begin the process soon. Thank you to our staff, families, and community for your patience and trust. The board's commitment remains the same to act with integrity, accountability, and in the best interest of the Grelin Rock um students and the school district. I will share a full summary next week um so
everyone can feel confident that this was a sound, responsible, and forward-looking decision for the district. Um so you'll see a a variety of communications that will um come out you know over the next I would say you know week um including uh on our next
agenda and then I'll provide a summary to the best um that I can legally I'll give as much information as I legally can provide um and and uh you know to help you understand what it is that you're seeing and to feel confident that this was um the best decision uh to move
forward. So, thank you. And now at 8:15, we are opening our first of two public comments. Please state your name and your address, and you'll have three minutes, and you'll hear a nice little ringer. >> Good evening, Elizabeth Cart 231
Hamilton Avenue. Wow. Just wow. Um, I just want to say thank you to um this board for doing their due diligence or whatever they did to come to this conclusion. It's been a long
five years, two of which I was a part of the board. So, I'm aware of inner workings. Um, I'm glad that there's an amicable resolution because I did opra request a lot of information that I found a little
disturbing. Um what I will leave you with is two suggestions. Three, mend yourselves and mend this board, you need to rebuild the trust in each other.
Number two, mend the trust between the board and the community. And thank you for that report. I'm sure it took a lot of time and I think it's very important for people to understand how rankings work. Here's an opportunity for us to restart and learn from the mistakes of our past.
And that being said, my only comment or criticism concern is that to have a permanent superintendent in by the next year is sort of rushing the process. Again, let's learn from our mistakes.
Um, and if that means keeping an interim superintendent for as long as it takes to find a superintendent that fits Lenrock's um, ideals, goals, motivations
for the parents, for their children, then let's take the time and do what's right and let's move forward. So, just want to say thank you. Thank you. >> Good evening. Dr. Angela Pooie Bender,
55 Yardley Court. Uh, I started this afternoon writing down a list of things to go down memory lane, but I don't think that that's really necessary. I'm glad that the board has finally come to a resolve with a an individual
who uh needed to go a long time ago. My disappointment is that there are in my belief uh from what I've seen, heard and observed uh clearly observed that there may be one or two that still do not
understand their role um as a board member and that they are here for the community and our students, most importantly our students. Uh Dr. Dr. Robinson, I think that your presentation was great for those folks out in TV land
who really don't have any understanding of what the rankings um hold and how they come to be. So, thank you. Uh but however, I'm going to say that there is no reason why we are not above the regionals or up there with the uh you
know the Milburns of of the state. And I think that that's a great opportunity for a new superintendent coming in. I think that um I'm going to say from my professional perspective, I want parents to feel comfortable, the community to
feel comfortable that I believe that the next superintendent will come in uh like the night and shining armor and has a staff that will welcome them openly, you know, great great um place to be. And we
just have to make sure that the next board that comes on board understands the importance of selecting the right individual that fits the climate and culture of our community, not of another community, not from somewhere out of
state that doesn't know a thing about New Jersey, not someone from maybe even out of the county who doesn't know Bergen County or the north section of Bergen County that we are. I think that um we have a lot to gain from the lessons learned and I hope that some
people really still uh can uh take what they saw happening and unfolding and learn from their mistakes. Uh I came on in 2020 to 2023. I want everyone to know that I did my best in providing uh what
I felt was solid information to go by, but unfortunately at that time it just um it it wasn't heard and I hope that uh you know moving forward that our new board will be able to do that because I think this is a great place to be. I love our town. I love our schools and I
know you all do as well and I uh congratulate you for getting us to this point now. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening everybody. Kevin Carroll, 26 whole Court. Great presentation. Um, amazing how, no offense, a non-educator
who would come up with all that information and do the research. That's what central office staff should be doing. That's what administration should be doing. But kudos to you for stepping up and taking the lead. It just shows how much you care about the district and the students and the parents here for you to take the time to do that. Just
like let the board know in Bergen County there's probably 9 to 11 superintendent jobs open as we are standing here tonight. Uh so think about that as you do your search. Don't get caught up in doctors. Don't get caught up in experience. Find a person who cares,
who's genuine, whose track record shows that their community, their teachers, their administrators they work with respect them, trust them, want them there. And when if they do leave are upset that that person is leaving, that's the person we want. We don't need
a headliner. We don't need somebody who's going to come in here and make us number two again. We need someone who's going to bring change and help our community and our school get better. Doesn't matter about rankings, niche. You can go pay. We can all pay and put our surveys in there if that's really
what you want to do. NJ Monthly sold magazines when they had their monthly magazines come out every other year. They went out of business because nobody was buying it anymore. So, surveys are great, information is great, but how do
our students feel? How do our teachers feel? How do our administrators feel supported by you guys and the community? I'm here to help in any way. I'm not running for board of ed. I just want to be your voice for you guys and for the parents. Uh but good job tonight. Thank you.
>> All right. Um we will close our first set of public comments at 8:23. Can I have a motion to discuss? Oh, sorry. Oh. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Oh, go ahead. We will pause on the 823.
>> Sorry. Um, Alise Meltzer, 59 Abington Terrace. Um, I just wanted to take a moment to thank the board of ed for all your hard work over these past few months. I know it hasn't been easy and you each volunteer your time and energy for our community and many of you stepped into a very challenging situation and I just wanted to
acknowledge and thank you all for that. Um, and over the past few months as I've been coming to more and more board meetings, I've noticed a real shift in the board and how they've become more transparent, open-minded, um, and a genuine willingness to hear from the community
about what we want. Um, and it hasn't gone gone unnoticed. So, I truly appreciate that. Um, and then the next few months will be an important time as we begin the search for the new superintendent and my hope is that we take what we've learned these from these recent experiences and move forward in a
positive, united direction. Um, ensuring that what happened before never happens again. We all care deeply about our schools in our town. It's why we all moved here. Um, and it's time to bring our schools back to the standards that drew so many of us here in the first place with respect like a lot of what
Kevin was saying, just the respect of the administration and the community and the staff members. Um, and as you move through this process, I encourage you to consider not only what the community wants in a new superintendent, but also what our staff needs. And I think the rebuilding of our morale really needs to
be like a top priority to keep our teachers here and to build that rapport year after year with our teachers and our then the teachers with the students. Um and we just everything depends on a positive climate and short strong leadership um and an inspiring
superintendent who can set the tone for the entire district. He's the leader and he needs to or she needs to, you know, really motivate the staff, the students, everybody that brings the whole district together and the board too.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Um, so we'll close at 8:25 and can I get a motion to discuss G1 through G10? All right. We have Karen, seconded by Dan. All right. Comments.
So, in regards of G1 and G2, um I I generally don't support spending taxpayer money on money that doesn't go directly into the classroom. However, the board explored every possible alternative before reaching to this decision, and I believe that this is the best course of action to resolve a
difficult situation and move forward. During the NJSBA convention two weeks ago, I spoke with numerous New Jersey educators about the superintendent issue in New Jersey. They consistently informed me that towns ultimately just end up in pay. The following is not a
political statement, but I do believe that things will only change when the state will start assisting local board with educations. uh with similar issues. I hope our next governor whoever whoever she or he may be consider this and I promise to advocate for this issue not just for Glenrock but for other towns
that may face similar situation. I anticipate a lot of fingerpointing in the next coming days. However, I urge Glenrock parents and residents to focus on the future. Attend board of education meetings and voice your opinions. Ask the Glenrock board to select a new leader who will restore Glenrock to its
rightful place as a top ranking school district. Thank you. >> Go ahead. >> I'm Hi everyone. I'm reading a statement on behalf of Trustee Christine Parlamas who could not be with us tonight. I'm sorry I'm unable to be at tonight's
meeting. I'm away on a trip. I want to express my support for the action being taken this evening. I believe this is an important step will that will at last allow our district to begin a new chapter. With this decision, we can
refocus on what matters most, our community, our staff, and above all our students. >> All right. Any other comments? Okay. Can you call roll, please?
Miss Carousella. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohen, >> yes. >> Mr. Corey, >> yes. >> Mr. Hayward, >> yes. >> Miss Stevenson, >> yes. >> Miss Calves, >> yes. >> Dr. Robinson,
>> yes. >> Motions pass. >> Thank you. >> All right. Can I get a [Applause] um a motion to discuss B1 through B6?
Then seconded by All right. Discussion for B1 through B6. Any questions, comments, concerns? Go ahead. Um on with regular business that we do
all the time. It is sorry I switched B3. So thanks for preparing the budget calendar. It's part of the the boring dutiful work that we do and uh it's a good road map. It's a next six months of hard work for us. So glad to get it start and we have
a timeline ahead of us for in a challenging year of budgeting. So that was my comment for that. Thank you. >> All right. Yep. Thank you as well for the budget calendar. That was great. Anything else?
All right. Can I get roll call, please? >> Miss Carousella? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohen? >> Yes. >> Mr. Corey? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hayward? >> Yes. >> Miss Stevenson? >> Yes. >> Miss Calves? >> Yes. >> Dr. Robinson? >> Yes.
>> Motions pass. >> Can I get a motion to discuss P1 through P14? All right, Stephanie and Ed second questions, comments, concerns, P1 through P14. Go ahead.
>> Just on P3, looking forward to seeing the parent wellness presentations that the staff uh develops. I like that they um raised their hand to do this and looking forward to seeing what they uh present to us. >> All right. Thank you. All right. See no other comments or
questions. If you can please call roll. >> Miss Carousella? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohen? >> Yes. >> Mr. Corey? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hayward? >> Yes. >> Miss Stevenson? >> Yes. >> Miss Calves? >> Yes. >> Dr. Robinson?
>> Yes. >> Motions pass. >> Thank you. And then you see our vandalism suspension hip reports present. All right. And we are now entering. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Uhu.
>> Okay. Just a statement. Uh, most people don't realize that when an ethic complaint is made against the board member, the board ends up paying their legal defense with the taxpayer money or insurance money, which is basically taxpayer money. I truly believe that my ethic complaint against Mrs. Rendell, M.
Rendell was valid. However, since she resigned from the board and I do not want to to spend taxpayer money uh and see them moved away from education, I've decided to withdraw the complaint against her. >> All right. Thank you.
At 8:31, we are opening our second of uh two public comments. Um please state your name, your address, and you have three minutes. All right. Seeing no members of the public for a second set of public comments will close also at 8:31.
Our next um meeting is next Monday when we'll return back from school. Um planning on the agenda. This agenda is already posted and so take a look and we'll see you then. All right. Uh can I have a motion to adjourn? Oh, sorry. >> I'm sorry. I I don't know if I'm allowed
to do this if it's out of order, but on G8 for the boosters, can I just thank them for their donations? They have done so many things for our district from scoreboard to the beautiful patio out by the snack stand. Um so they're donating pennies and a broadcast host desk and I
just really want to thank the people who are behind that because they've done tremendous things and all the volunteers that work in the snack stand also. Yes. Because >> they collect the money. >> They do. They were hard at work this this uh just recently for our win on Friday. So that
was great. So thank you for uh mentioning that. All right. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? All right. Add seconded by Liz. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed?
None.